Change in Preference
by Seph Lorraine
Summary: ExT :: Tomoyo's in love with the perfect guy. But, why is the perfect guy always gay?


- Author's Note - Hallo, there! Thank you for choosing to read my fic (if that is what you've decided to do)! I am very much honoured. The idea for this fic was inspired by seeing the many E+T fics I've been reading lately, and also by a story summary I saw last night whilst looking for another E+T... The summary said something about Eriol being gay and Tomoyo falling in love with him, or something akin to that. If you are the author who wrote that summary (I didn't get a chance to read the fic), please tell me who you are and I will give you credit for inspiration. This isn't a fic about Eriol being radically gay, but just subtly gay... You'll have to read to see it. I have improved upon my idea and even plotted out a story during my 1st period health class this morning, so I hope this will be good.  
  
Remember, whilst reading, this *is* an ExT fic (I don't really like Eriol being gay... Touya and Yukito, and Yue and Clow, yes, but... Eriol? No.) so don't start flaming me for Eriol's sexual preference... It will change. ****This is my 1st CCS fic! Please be kind...  
  
  
  
- Warnings - Shounen ai, Language, Fluff, OOC, Angst, Mild Lime, ExT, S+S, (Tomoyo + Eli, Eriol + Sven [OC] - The complications of this will be explained later)   
  
  
  
- Disclaimer - You think I own CCS? Ha! I wish. -_-;  
  
  
  
  
[ Change in Preference ] By Seph Lorraine  
Act P / 18 - Prologue  
  
  
  
  
  
Daidouji Tomoyo sat on her bed in her dorm, scowling at a picture of a certain someone on the third row down, and second picture across, on page 42 in her yearbook. The girl in the picture, was actually quite pretty, she had long hair, it's shimmering red colour not captured in the photo. Her eyes twinkled brightly, and her smile was radiant. The raven-haired girl glared at the name below the picture.  
  
Mizuki Kaho.  
  
This was the woman. The woman who had so hurt her best friend. She snapped the book shut and tossed it off the bed, leaning back onto her pillows. Anger fused through her veins, and the usually level-headed girl felt like throwing something. Or hitting someone... Like a certain red-headed prep in her German class.  
  
She looked longingly at the phone, waiting, hoping he would call. It had been like this alot, lately. Eriol was so distant, even towards her, and lately, almost depressed. The boy had called her once in the last week, as opposed to their usual phoning each other every day. Lately, the dark-haired boy didn't want to talk to anyone, even his best friend.  
  
Tomoyo cursed the red-headed witch, again.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
In less than an instant, she was across the room, picking up the receiver, "Moshi moshi!"  
  
There was a pause, "...That was fast."  
  
"Eriol!" The girl jumped, carrying the phone over to her bed, and plopping down to talk to her best friend. "I've been waiting and waiting all week! Why didn't you call me? What's going on?"  
  
"Oh... Well, I was actually going to ask you if you had any free time today. Do you? We could meet up somewhere, and talk..." The voice was slightly tired, low in energy, but hopeful.  
  
"Of course! We can go get something to eat, and we can talk there. What about it?"  
  
"Yes. That sounds great. Say, it's 6:20, so, I'll pick you up in around thirty minutes, ok?"  
  
"Ok! See you in half an hour." She was practically floating in thin air.  
  
"Yea... And Tomoyo?"  
  
"Yea, Eriol-kun?"  
  
"Thanks..." The voice trailed off.  
  
"It's no problem. Now go on and hang up." She laughed softly.  
  
"I'm not hanging up."   
  
"Well, I'm not hanging up."  
  
"I can take my phone with me, it's a cell, remember? You can't. I'll stay on the phone until I'm over there."  
  
"I could take this with me. It's cordless."  
  
"...You're not bringing your house-phone with you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's hidious! It's got pink flowers on it!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"Daidouji-san. Hang up."  
  
"Never."  
  
"I'm not about to run up my phone bill by staying on the phone with you over some stupid--"  
  
"Hang up, then."  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, I'm not hanging up."  
  
"Me niether."  
  
"Ok, on the count of three, we'll both hang up."  
  
"Ok."  
  
"One, two... four!"  
  
"..."  
  
"..."  
  
"You didn't hang up."  
  
"Niether did you."  
  
"That's because you need to re-learn your basic counting, Daidouji-san."  
  
"Ok, I really gotta go get ready."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye!"  
  
"Bye!"  
  
"Bye!"  
  
"BYE!"  
  
"Dammit, Daidouji-san! Hang up!"  
  
"Tsk, tsk, such language, Eriol-kun."  
  
"Bye, Tomoyo!" The voice was getting irritated.  
  
"I'm only flirting with you, Eriol. No need to get angry." Tomoyo's laughter echoed into the phone.  
  
"...I gotta go." The boy on the other end of the line hung up.  
  
"Eriol?" She set the phone down, and went to get ready without a second thought.  
  
Out of her closet, she pulled a pair of dark jeans, and a violet tank top. She brushed out her hair a few times, and slipped her feet into a pair of thin purple flip-flops. About fifteen minutes later there was a knock at her door, and she rushed to greet her best friend. She pulled open the door to reveal a sight for sore-eyes.  
  
Sakura blinked slightly, and began, "Do you have the maths homework for--?"  
  
The door slammed shut, and the girl outside began knocking again.  
  
"Hey, Tomoyo-chan! That wasn't very nice--"  
  
The raven-haired girl opened the door slightly, and peeked her head out just  
slightly, "Sakura-chan! I'm waiting for Eriol! I can't talk right now!"  
  
The auburn-haired girl frowned, "Fine, fine, I'll go ask Syaoran. That idiot's gotta be good for something." She walked off muttering dark things. (O_o)  
  
Five more minutes passed, and Tomoyo stood by the door. She took a deep breath, threw on her largest smile, and swung open the door, to see...  
  
"Hey, have you seen Sakura? Oh! And do you have the maths assign--" Syaoran was cut off mid sentence.  
  
"NO! Now go! I'm waiting for someone! Leave! Away with you! Be gone! Adios! Sayoonara! So long! Farewell! Auf Weidersehen! Adieu! Ciao! GO AWAY!" She exaggerated her long list of goodbyes with emmaculate hand gestures.  
  
The amber-eyed boy narrowed his eyes, "Fine then..." He began walking away.  
  
"Aa! My cute descendant! How is it going?"   
  
"Stop calling me that, Hiiragizawa-kun." Li Syaoran mumbled upon hearing his second cousin's approach.  
  
Both teens turned to see Hiiragizawa Eriol approaching quickly, his long legs carrying him fast. He wore a thin black shirt, and some slightly baggy jeans, his hair with it's usual spike, but... he looked tired. There were light circles beneath his eyes, and the whites of his eyes were slightly bloodshot. Either he was high, or he hadn't been sleeping too well. Tomoyo frowned at him, "Eriol? You don't look like you're--"  
  
"I'm fine." He stated it slightly sharply, cutting in, and with his eyes, silently apologising for his rudeness. He obviously didn't want to talk about it.  
  
Syaoran glared at the taller boy, and set off silently to find his cherry blossom.  
  
"So..." Eriol smiled at the raven-haired girl in the doorway, who was frowning up at him, "Not happy to see me?"  
  
She smiled, and closed her door, stepping out into the hallway with him. She linked her arm into his and began to drag him down to the parking lot, "No, I'm very happy to see you, I'm just upset. You haven't called me, or hardly talked to me in a week..."  
  
"I know... I'm so sorry, Tomoyo, but I had some things I was thinking about. It's not been peaches and cream, though." He smiled at her briefly, before letting his face fall. He paused and she followed suit, "I have something I need to tell you, though... I need to tell someone, and I think you're the only one who will understand."  
  
She frowned, he sounded so serious, almost grave, and she tilted her head slightly, eyes concerned, "What is it?"  
  
"I'll tell you over dinner... Now, where shall we dine?" He spoke the last words mockingly, slightly emphasising his already eloquent British accent. His smirk was back in place.  
  
She giggled and drug him out to the car.  
  
  
They ate at a small sandwich shop a few blocks away, simple deli foods, and fell into talking about school, and what they usually conversed over, when Tomoyo remembered what he had said earlier, "Eriol... What was it you wanted to tell me earlier?"  
  
The dark-haired boy before her fell silent suddenly, and averted his gaze to the window, a slightly fearful look revealed through his beautiful snowy blue eyes.  
  
"Is it about you and Kaho? Why did you break up with her?" The amethyst-eyed girl leaned forward, gazing at him intently, frowning slightly at his silence.  
  
The was a moment of silence before Eriol spoke, and when he did he looked his best friend directly in the eyes when doing so, "I broke up with Kaho because I didn't love her... I didn't love her because..." He drifted off, looking away again, uncomfortably.  
  
"Oh! I thought she had hurt you or something." Tomoyo frowned slightly, remembering how she had cursed the red head earlier, "So, you don't love her because...?" She kept her gaze on the boy before her.  
  
"Tomoyo..." He looked up again slightly, but still kept his eyes from hers, "You're my best friend... Will you still be my friend after I tell you, what it is I have to tell you? Or will you hate me...?"  
  
"Eriol." She reached over lifting his chin with her hands so that he would have to meet her eyes, then she sat back in her seat, "I'll always be your friend, whether you like it or not, now, what is it?"  
  
There was another pause before he spoke, "I'm gay."  
  
There was a brief moment of shock, but it was over quickly. Tomoyo smiled at him softly, a glowing understanding within her as she watched her best friend fidget in nervousness. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?"  
  
Eriol looked up and quirked an eyebrow slightly, that had not been the response he was expecting.  
  
"I understand. I was... Well, at least I though I was, for a while..." She drifted off at that memory, and the boy across from her nodded. She looked back at him, smiling, "Of course you'll still be my best friend. What should your sexual preference matter?" She stood up, and he followed suit.  
  
He winced slightly at the words 'sexual preference'. "It sounds... dirty... that way. Can't you just say 'preference', or something?"  
  
She chuckled softly, and linked her arm into his again as they walked out, "Fine, fine, fine. So, how did you find out?"  
  
"It's something I've been wondering over for a while, and I think that it's true. I'm gay. It's kind of hard to explain..."  
  
"Well, I'm happy for you." She leaned against him slightly, "Come on, let's go get ice cream!" They walked out into the evening air, stars beginning to twinkle through the lightly falling violet of the sky.  
  
Her best friend was gay. 'No wonder he had always seemed so perfect...'  
  
  
TBC...  
  
  
  
  
- Please review! All comments, questions, death threats, and marriage proposals are greatly appreciated! ^_^ Act I is due in on Tuesday, August 27, 2002. Check back for more, then! 


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